English Dub Review: Kaiju No. 8 “Joining Up”

Sometimes I feel like I am a broken record when it comes to Kaiju No. 8. I keep saying I’m hooked. There’s so much good that when I try to find something bad, or even a slight detriment, there isn’t anything.

After four straight episodes of having fighting in some sort, it was great to see the change in pace. There is one thing I want to point out here, and it’s less on the show itself, and more on Crunchyroll posting spoilers in the description for the episode. Obviously, I knew that Kafka was going to make the squad, but they didn’t need to spoil a major plot point in the episode by having it literally the first sentence in the description. If someone is going in blind, wanting to know what happens, this ruins it.

That said, “Joining Up” is a great change of pace. This is a more chill episode, getting everyone acclimated to their new roles as officers in the Defense Force…except Kafka, who only got brought on as a cadet. How, you may ask? Well, that’s because the Vice Captain knows there’s something going on, when the Fortitude 9.8 spiked, and Kafka’s vitals disappeared. So someone’s piecing things together.

As I said earlier, Kafka made it, kind of. He didn’t become a full fledged officer yet, so he has a lot of work to do show he can be officer material, including not attending the induction ceremony of the other officers. What “Joining Up” did really well is show more of the downtime the officers get to enjoy, and some of the training. Rivalries are sprouting up, and Kafka is going all in on joining the ranks. The fighting is going to start quickly next week, though.

This was a great accessory to last week’s episode. Where “Fortitude 9.8” was the end of the exam and the direct aftermath, “Joining Up” really delves into the machinations of the Defense Force, if only for 23 minutes. These interludes to all of the fighting you know is coming is a great pallete cleanser, as long as they’re done right. And Kaiju No. 8 does it right. Jesus, am I really calling the calm episodes an “amuse bouche”? You know what? Screw it. I’m keeping it.

There isn’t much left to say. Kaiju No. 8 is a banger show so far. The writers and manga-ka are able to weave a great show that doesn’t have an overreliance on fighting like Dragon Ball, Naruto, and even One Piece. While very enjoyable, they’re the most enjoyable when the main characters are throwing hands with the protagonist of the saga. Kafka is the antithesis to the generic Shonen protagonist.

No matter the amount of training he does, the only way he gets things done is by changing into something that will get him killed if his job finds out. Moreso, the stereotypical Shonen main character has everyone loving them. Kafka, absolutely does not. Everyone except for Reno thinks he’s a waste of time. By the time the show is over, Kafka is going to have a social turnaround crazier than Naruto.

Kaiju No. 8 is almost perfect. As I’ve probably said constantly over the last five weeks, this is a breath of fresh air. Kaiju No. 8 is absolutely cooking right now.